Is that so wrong? i don’t think so. i’ve been doing it for multiple seasons of truly fantastic shows like Dexter, True Blood, Nurse Jackie, United states of Tara, Weeds, The Big C, Spartacus: Blood in the Sand, Big Love, Breaking Bad, Rome, The Walking Dead and more. I generally get to view episodes on the same night that they air, just a little later because i keep on my downloading toes and find the torrent files I crave and just download away. I get way addicted and fanatic when I’m in mid season throes of one of these exciting premium channel series. I can easily say I’ve never enjoyed viewing television more, yet my television set is rarely turned on except to view part of my collection of hard-to-find or vintage art films on VHS. It’s all happening on the computer. Yeah, I’m still excited about this technology though it is kind of old hat. They told us years ago that the computer, television and telephones would indeed merge into each other in the future and they have as far as my home entertainment center is concerned, not to mention all those people with i-phones i see watching porn on MUNI or holding their phones up to speakers for positive song identification. I’m amazed by all this “magic”, but I also know that in the area of bit torrent downloading I’m not the leading tech-retardo because I tell lots of people how to do it and it’s big news to them. It thrills me to no end that I can also access the oh-so-rich and bountiful history of television with this new technology. That’s right, I can download every episode of The Bionic Woman if i want. I can marvel at the advanced social consciousness of The Big Valley the western themed dramatic series about the Barkley family from Stockton, led by matriarch Victoria Barkley as played by Barbara Stanwyck who did all her own stunts, would kill a man at the drop of a wide brimmed hat to protect her clan, and would be elegant for formal dinner, attended by servants of all ethnic persuasions whom she treated well, as if they too were family. Guest stars of major caliber would all end up on The Big Valley, Karen Black, Ellen Burstyn, Charles Bronson, Davey Jones from The Monkees, Claudine Longet, Anne Baxter, John Carradine, Lou Rawls, Coleen Dewhurst, Bruce Dern, Katherine Ross, Milton Berle, Cloris Leachman, Julie London, Susan Strasberg, Dennis Hopper, Adam West, Lee Grant, William Shatner, Ron Howard, just to name a few. I was really drawn to reruns of this show because The Barkleys were a family of the old west but their politics were extremely progressive. They looked out for their Chinese servants, especially when one was constantly attacked for inter-racial marriage by the towns people. Even after Victoria had been held prisoner by a mad Chinese man in his fortress and tortured with multi-colored light wheels and Chinese water torture just a year or so before, she still fought for her servants. Her oldest son Jarrod was an attorney and in one episode he defended some wrongfully accused anarchist Basque Settlers who were being framed by bad local villains. His associate said, “Jarrod, you cant defend them in a court of law. They’re Anarchist Basque Settlers, they are for the violent overthrow of government.” But he did–and cleared them of all accused crimes. Another of her sons was Heath, played by Lee Majors (the Six Million Dollar Man). Heath was an interloper, claimed to be the lost son of the deceased John Barkley by another woman, not Victoria. He had to constantly prove his loyalty as a Barkley, and did. He was definitely the hottest Barkley, so hot in fact Audra Barkley (Linda Evans) Victoria’s only daughter tried to seduce him to expose him as a fraud, or not-a-Barkley. This series has always fascinated me but i really didn’t plan on blogging about the Barkleys, though i could

the Barkleys of The Big Valley

My original idea to expound on in this post was Chelsea Handler of my favorite late night talk show Chelsea Lately, which i download every day

She's the definitive ruler of the late night talk shows in my opinion

I’ve been hooked on Chelsea Lately for well over a year now and its hard to pinpoint the main reason for this because the show serves up so damn many reasons each time i catch it. One big reason is she’s fucking filthy! She swears constantly, she endlessly talks about sleazy sex stuff based on printed media about celebrities or about herself, her family and her rotating trio of comedians from her round table, a brilliant talk show format–four very funny people tossing up comments on current topics or breaking news on celebrity hot messes, rehabs, sarah palin, dancing with the stars, etc. Her ribald, no-bullshit commentary is hilarious and pretty shocking most any night. Her unapologetic and honest enthusiasm for drinking vodka, smoking pot and jumping Fifty Cents bones or lots of peoples bones is refreshing. I started watching her first few shows of the year and it really seems to me that she has resolved to become even filthier in the new year. Its almost as if she’s trying to get in trouble with the E network or something. She somehow manages to get away with more racist comments and jokes than I can believe, likely by way of self-deprecation or at the expense of her rotating round table participants who are all very good sports as she makes fun of their penis size based on ethnicity, jokes about her mexican midget sidekick chuy being an illegal alien, jokes about being a white girl who likes rappers a bit too much, reveals which rountable member she would like to fuck with a strap-on, suggests that Susan Boyle is in definite need of penetration, and insists repeatedly that one of her roundtable comedians is gay when he’s not. It’s really a laugh a minute and i’m totally hooked on her show.

The Cast of the British version of the series Shameless

Another show that I’ve become completely enamored with and have downloaded and viewed all seven seasons and just started finding episodes for their 8th season which started airing this week in Britain is the celebrated long-running series Shameless, not to be confused with the American version of the series which just started to air this week on Showtime and is also called Shameless. Now I dont want to diss this new American television drama based entirely on the British original but after becoming a loyal fan of the original which renewed for its 8th and longest season yet with 24 episodes, I’m on the Shameless-UK team. I recommend that everyone download the original series, a season at a time and watch it if you want to see a program not quite like any other. Once you get into the groove of it you will disbelieve that anyone would want to try to recreate it for American television because it is so completely and uniquely British with so many subtle cultural touchstones and plot constructs you couldn’t p0ssibly imagine how it could be re-interpreted for an American audience. It’s about a family, the Gallaghers, living in the fictional Chatsworth council estate. The cast of characters are six Gallagher children ranging in age from 19 to 3, their drunk and unemployable ne’er do well father Frank, some wonderful neighbors and an array of incidental and unusual others who weave in and out of one of the most rollicking and crazed and criminal plot lines to ever air on television. I don’t recall exactly where or how i heard about it but from the first episode I saw I was hooked. It’s shocking, funny, touching, exciting and truly has a lot of heart. It shows that even the most morally bankrupt, dysfunctional and unusual of family structures that crops up in modern society, there can still exist a nurturing loving and magical group of characters with a broad spectrum of loyalty and dependability accepted unconditionally. The long running series has won numerous BAFTA (British Academy Of Film and Television Arts) awards. When i first started watching I quickly bonded with the incredible array of characters, probably more so than with any other television series and I’m thrilled that their new season boasts a record number of episodes. Thats a lot of quality viewing to look forward to and they aired an episode per day starting on January 10th for a week. I really suggest ordering the entire series on netflix or download them starting at the beginning because its the best thing i’ve ever seen on television.